Jafton

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the technical team lead at JOE & THE JUICE, a food and beverage company based in the US.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Jafton?

We needed to build a mobile application to offer customers a loyalty program and sell pickup and delivery orders.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We work with Jafton to build our application. They’ve used Swift for iOS and Kotlin for Android. The team has done all the designs for the application using Figma.

How did you come to work with Jafton?

Jafton was already on board before I joined the company. As far as I know, they were found through a referral.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent $3 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in July 2019, and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The technology is great, and the feedback and number of downloads have been good. We can see that usage is good as well; most of the customers are on the app right now.

Jafton updates the app every two weeks, and the internal QA team quickly fixes any bugs. In three years of working with them, the system only went down once, but it was due to the servers.

How did Jafton perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re good with deadlines and communication. We typically use Slack and email to communicate because the team is international. We also have daily Zoom calls and stand-ups.

What did you find most impressive about them?

As a technical lead, I’m very impressed with their standards and how they check their code. They’re great in QA; the team thoroughly checks everything before putting it into production.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’s hard to think of something they can improve; they have an excellent team.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you’re a technical company, talk to their developers and project managers before you hire them to get to know the people you’ll work with.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of product management at Jokr.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Jafton?

We have an in-house IT team who primarily works on backend systems. We hired Jafton to help with mobile app development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Jafton has developed a grocery delivery mobile app for iOS and Android. We provided documentation upfront, and they built the app from scratch, using Swift for iOS and Kotlin for Android. The app enables users to order groceries for delivery and track their order statuses in real-time.  After building the app, the team also helped us with app store optimization (ASO) and marketing. Since launching the product, Jafton has continued maintaining the app. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with four iOS developers, four Android developers, one designer, and two QA specialists from Jafton.

How did you come to work with Jafton?

We found Jafton online; they had great reviews on Clutch, so we reached out. We ultimately selected Jafton because we were impressed with their portfolio and communication style during our first call.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $2 million in the partnership with Jafton. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We engaged Jafton in January 2021, and the project is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Jafton has helped us increase our brand awareness, and we’ve seen an increase in downloads since officially launching the app.

How did Jafton perform from a project management standpoint?

Jafton has submitted deliverables on time and within budget. We’ve primarily communicated via Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve been most impressed with Jafton’s communicative nature.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have nothing Jafton could improve on. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend going for it and engaging Jafton. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a nightlife discovery platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Jafton?

We were looking to build a mobile and web application from scratch.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Jafton has provided mobile development services. They’ve used Swift for iOS, Kotlin with a Jetpack Compose framework for Android, and Python for the backend. Although the app is live, the team still handles updates.

The app allows users to find events happening around them. For example, if someone wants to go to a club or an event, they can find the tickets, see discounts, book a table, and so on. For payment, they have to go to an external service.

What is the team composition?

We have 6–8 teammates involved in the project: a project manager, two iOS developers, two Android developers, a backend developer, and a designer.

How did you come to work with Jafton?

We interviewed many companies; we went through a whole list on Clutch and a few other directories. We needed somebody who specialized in mobile development and knew web development, so it was challenging. Additionally, we needed someone with experience in marketplace applications. Jafton popped up on various websites and stood out for their great presence, so we hired them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $500,000 on the web app side. In total, we’ve spent over $1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in September 2018, and our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We have over 1 million downloads and over 100,000 users right now, so it’s been a highly successful launch. Moreover, we roll out updates every two weeks, and they always meet our expectations. We’re very happy with Jafton.

How did Jafton perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Jira for project management and Slack for communication. We also have meetings on Zoom; we meet with the CEO every quarter to review performance. Additionally, we get weekly and quarterly reports from the project manager.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They mainly stand out for three reasons. First, their portfolio is impressive; they have a strong portfolio with multiple unique works. Also, their tech team is full of strong senior developers, which is difficult to find. Thirdly, the CEO has a lot of experience building consumer tech startups.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’ve been working with them for four years, but in the beginning, we went back and forth to pick the team members who better understood nightlife. Even though they were good developers, we needed people with this specific experience. However, we’ve polished everything at this point; it feels like having an in-house team.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

First, bring your requirements to the front. We initially struggled because we didn’t have the exact scope, so they offered us to do a discovery phase. I’d recommend engaging in the discovery phase with Jafton; it’ll help you learn and create a clear path to execute the project, so it’s definitely worth it.

Talk to the head of operations. He’s good at understanding the concept and giving advice on how to work with the team, so he’ll coordinate everything well. Also, the head of the delivery department is excellent. All the project managers report to her, so if there’s any problem, she’s the main point of contact.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the treasurer of The Humanity Party®.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Jafton?

We wanted to develop an application, so we sought Jafton’s assistance.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Jafton helped us conduct a discovery process regarding the development of a mobile app for The Humanity Party®. This process lasted a couple of months, during which they helped us define how this app could work on new technology. We basically presented them with an idea for an app we knew hadn’t been done before, so they had to figure out brand-new workarounds and solutions.

What is the team composition?

We communicated directly with four main people from Jafton, including Chris (Business Development Manager), Sam (COO), a business analyst, and the chief revenue officer. There were more people from their team involved in the project, but we didn’t meet them.

How did you come to work with Jafton?

Our spokesperson found them during a web search and was very impressed with them. During this process, he reached out to Jafton and another company, and we ultimately moved forward with Jafton.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested $5,500 plus a tip we ended up giving them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We first contacted them in September 2022, and our last meeting was at the end of October 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We had a great experience working with Jafton. They did a lot of research for us, and they spent a lot of time, care, and attention on finding workarounds and solutions to problems none of us could have foreseen. Ultimately, they were able to figure out ways for our app to be possible. Our expectations were definitely exceeded.

Their team provided us with excellent ideas that contributed to our overall mission. It was a great experience, and we all learned a lot, which was very valuable.

How did Jafton perform from a project management standpoint?

Jafton performed incredibly well, and their communication and understanding were great. They were very professional, straightforward, and punctual, and they always did what they promised. We used Slack and Notion for communication and project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The amount of research that Jafton did was impressive. They had to research multiple different fields, and they were very dedicated to finding ways to tie in and incorporate together all those different fields and technical aspects. They were very thoughtful and creative during that process because they were doing things that hadn’t been done before.

Moreover, we were very impressed with Jafton’s work, skills, and intelligence, so we would be very happy to work with them again on any app or software development project. Chris really seemed to get a great vision of our idea, helping us translate it into technical requirements and pass them on to his team. For us, having someone from their team who felt as if he was part of our team was really helpful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would have been great if Jafton had given us full transparency regarding the quote.  We were curious about further costs regarding monthly maintenance and other services, so it would have been very helpful if we had a breakdown of those costs.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of an event aggregator offering a platform where we share international events around blockchain technology, such as conferences.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Jafton?

We had the initial for our app, but we needed someone to develop it for us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Jafton was tasked to develop our mobile app for iOS and Android, as well as to design our website — it was part of the contract. As for the technology stack, they were using Swift to develop the iOS version, but I’m not sure what they were using for the Android one.

How did you come to work with Jafton?

I found them through a Google search.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent approximately $80,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with them in February 2020, and the partnership ended in January 2021. Unfortunately, we were not able to finish the project. I was happy with the way things were going, but I ended it due to reasons from my side.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Before ending the partnership, Jafton presented us with a prototype we were able to test, and we liked it.

How did Jafton perform from a project management standpoint?

Jafton was good at meeting deadlines. For communication, we used emails, phone calls, and Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Jafton was very transparent.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. I can’t think of anything they could improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I don’t have particular advice for future clients; just go with the flow.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of an agricultural products production and exportation company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Jafton?

We needed help with developing a website. Our end goal was to increase our client base by getting our business online.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired Jafton to develop a website for us. Still, after the initial discussions, we decided also to implement a whole new CRM system because we wanted to automate our business processes. Their team was involved in every step of the discovery and scoping process, from analyzing our former system to providing consulting on what our new website should include. After the scoping process, Jafton developed everything from scratch. Currently, they’re in charge of providing maintenance to the site.

What was the team composition?

We’ve worked with a project manager, a designer, two developers, and Jafton’s CEO.

How did you come to work with Jafton?

Jafton is very well-known in our country. We’ve really liked their communication from the beginning; they’ve been available 24/7 since we first contacted them.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent $20,000 on the website and $50,000 on the CRM system. Additionally, we pay a monthly fee of $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in June 2022, and it’s an ongoing collaboration.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Our new website has brought a lot of traffic to our business, especially from other countries. We’ve already started working with three new business partners who found us through our site. We haven’t implemented the CRM system yet, but we hope it will help us automate our business processes.

How did Jafton perform from a project management standpoint?

Jafton has delivered their work on time and on budget. As for communication, we have weekly calls, and we use Slack for regular communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The consistency of Jafton’s communication is outstanding. I have a very tight schedule, and my availability is limited sometimes. However, Jafton has been able to meet my needs and accommodate my schedule, being available 24/7.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I’m very satisfied with the project’s results.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Communicate frequently with them because they have innovative ideas. Additionally, be clear about what you want from them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a voice meeting platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Jafton?

We needed to develop a mobile application.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Jafton is building the app for desktop, iOS, and Android. They initially asked us a couple of questions, and we discussed what we wanted. The app is specifically for employees for internal use. Some features are the ability to make calls and screen-sharing.

What is the team composition?

Our main contact is the project manager. Additionally, several developers are working on the project right now.

How did you come to work with Jafton?

I don’t remember exactly where I found them, but I’m pretty sure it was through an online search. I got in touch with them, and we scheduled a call. I spoke to one of their reps to submit my project; then, we signed the contract and began the work.

How much have you invested in them?

At the moment, we’ve invested about $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in October 2021, and the project is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

They meet our expectations.

How did Jafton perform from a project management standpoint?

We have a weekly call where the project manager shows us the work they’ve done. They stay within the budget, and the team has followed the roadmap regarding deadlines.

We communicate through Jira and Slack and use Zoom for video calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication is outstanding. We can text them anytime, and they usually reply within a couple of hours.

Are there any areas they could improve?

At the moment, there isn’t anything they need to improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give them a good brief about what you want and set the expectations.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a startup company focused on the delivery service of cannabis. We are looking to connect customers, delivery drivers, and dispensaries through a mobile application.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Jafton?

We needed a user-friendly mobile application for everyone involved in the delivery process. We hired Jafton to help design a logo and build the app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We provided Jafton with the idea of how we wanted the app to look in terms of the background and the color palette, and the app was built from scratch. 

The app consists of four layers. The first is focused on customers, and it will allow them to create a profile and utilize their account to make purchases. The second layer involves the dispensaries, and allows store owners to upload products and photos, process orders, and notify drivers that orders are ready for pickup. 

The third layer is for the driver. Any drivers within the area can see the order, pick it up from the dispensary, and deliver it to the customer. The last layer involves the administrative portion on the backend, where everything is monitored to ensure everything is being processed correctly.   

In order to stay within compliance, the app will require any drivers to undergo a background check process. The customer will also be required to submit identification. All of this software will be included within the app. The app will also have a payment process, although we are still looking for a company to provide this. We are working with multiple vendors to ensure that the process and app will run smoothly. 

The app will be available on iOS and Android. We recently tested the product on both platforms, and we have an agreement to utilize the App Store and the Google Play Store. 

An independent graphic designer initially created the logo, but we didn’t think that it was polished enough, so we sent that logo to Jafton. They came up with another design that we liked, but felt that some elements were still missing. Jafton took designs from the original logo and the new logo, and put them together to come up with the final product. 

What is the team composition?

We work primarily with Sam (Managing Partner & Chief Revenue Officer). 

How did you come to work with Jafton?

We found them on Google. We looked at multiple companies because we wanted to find a balance between price and quality. When we sat down with Sam, we felt very comfortable, and we liked how he communicated with us. We wanted to work with someone that we could quickly get into contact with, and we felt like Jafton would be able to provide that for us.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $25,000 with Jafton. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in April 2022, and it is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

The app has not launched yet, but we are very happy with the product at this point. The designs they’ve come up with have been exceeding our expectations. We gave them the colors and pieces to work with, but we think they’ve done a fantastic job of putting everything together. We’re looking to continue the partnership with Jafton beyond the launch of the app. 

How did Jafton perform from a project management standpoint?

The project is taking longer than expected because we’ve been having an issue with the payment method we will use, but we expect to launch the app soon. Problems have not always been communicated to us as quickly as we felt they should have been, and we feel like that has put us behind schedule slightly. The process hasn't been perfect, but for the most part, we’ve had good communication, and Jafton is doing a good job of staying in touch with us. 

We communicate via Slack and text messages. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’ve never had to go anywhere else for projects, and Jafton is the first call we make when we need something. We have a great relationship with them, and they’ve worked to help build that with us, so we will continue to work with them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve on some of their communication. There have been times when we have felt they have taken too long to disclose important information. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Communicate everything with them upfront, and know what you need beforehand so everyone can get on the same page quickly. Make sure that you are asking what they need from you so that everything moves faster, and continue to ask questions throughout the process. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CTO of Blockcrunch, a consulting firm that specializes in enterprise blockchain development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire JAFTON?

We hired Jafton to do staff augmentation for our client's project. We specialize in blockchain development but do not have our own mobile developers. But for this client we had to do everything, so we hired Jafton to do the mobile development by hiring 2 iOS and 2 Android developers with a dedicated project manager that worked with our and client's product owner to get the app rolled out.

We had our MVP in 6 months and since have been working with Jafton and extending the team. As of today we have 8 engineers from Jafton's side working on the app.

SOLUTION

How did you select this agency and what were the deciding factors?

We found them through a google search when looking for companies in NYC for outstaffing mobile development.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

As mentioned, we hired Jafton to do the mobile development by hiring 2 iOS and 2 Android developers with a dedicated project manager that worked with our and client's product owner to get the app rolled out. We had our MVP in 6 months and since have been working with Jafton and extending the team. As of today we have 8 engineers from Jafton's side working on the app. MVP included an NFT wallet and social media features.

Describe the recruitment process in detail.

I interviewed each developer personally after looking over the resumes that Jafton provided. We picked all senior-level talent and were happy with the fact that they knew both the blockchain and social media spaces well which is what was needed for this client's project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the engagement that demonstrate progress or success?

What I loved about Jafton is that they were able to work really well under our white label agreement, so for our client, Jafton's team was presented as our own team and the whole process went super seamless. We were able to roll out the app before the given deadline and even add few extra features. Currently the app has over 500k DAU.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our team is mainly in the US and Canada and their people are in Eastern Europe and Central Asia but they were still able to work on the EST most of the day and were trained to respond timely. All of the team members speak really good English, so there was no barrier between our developers and Jafton's team.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Besides very appealing rates, they're able to work really well under our white label agreement and with our existing in-house team.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

There were some connection issues on zoom meetings due to some of their team members working from home which was a little frustrating in the beginning but they got it quickly resolved. Other than that we have really been enjoying working with their entire team. Their project manager Tim is really professional.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of a remote work solutions company. We provide video conferencing solutions and we’re also going to be adding a lot more features.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with JAFTON?

We needed help building a remote work solution.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We were starting with a video conferencing solution that was unique, but we came a little bit late to the market when the pandemic started. We decided to pivot a bit and right now we’re doing everything remote. This means we’re going to be offering booking solutions, payment systems for freelancers, and integrated video conferencing on top of that.

Their team has done the development from scratch and also custom-designed everything. The consulting part that they provided was very helpful as well. They’re constantly on the calls with us helping us navigate through some of the product deliveries, life cycles, and product market events. Even on the non-technical side, they’re subject matter experts at launching products and were very helpful in that way. 

They used Golang for the video conferencing part. The frontend is JavaScript and they used Python for the backend booking system.

What is the team composition?

There are 12 people working on the project. There’s an assigned project manager and she delivers all the updates and communication to us. Additionally, there are two designers; one for promotional materials and another one for main product design. They have a few front- and backend developers, and some QA teammates. 

How did you come to work with JAFTON?

I found them in a Google search three years ago when we started another similar project with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2020 and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

They’ve been very proactive — it’s always a pleasure working with them. They believe in our vision which is the biggest plus aside from them being really good professionals on the technical side. I’m very satisfied with what they’ve delivered.

How did JAFTON perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is awesome and they’re very dedicated. There’s timely communication. Deadlines aren’t always easy to manage but they’ve been upfront about that.

I’m very satisfied with their project management and their project manager is so involved. We have weekly calls and use Slack. Internally, they use some project management software for their tasks. We get updates through Slack and it works well enough for us. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their dedication is what sets them apart from others in the industry. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing I can think of for them to improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Go with their suggestions. They’re pros at what they do. Trust their expertise. Be very upfront with communication. Be sure to respond on time and they’ll do their job.